LONGMONT -- This week, Aspen Ridge Charter School in Erie announced to parents its plans to offer sixth, seventh and eighth grades and a more immediate goal to launch weekly enrichment classes.

Principal Pam Richau said the school currently offers physical education but is seeking teachers for art, music and Spanish to start in the fall.

The curriculum and supplies for the new classes were provided through one of the school's grants, according to the letter to parents.

"Aspen Ridge will provide enrichment classes weekly for our students and in turn offer well needed planning/collaboration time for our teachers," the letter states.

The school's board members approved the plans to offer class through eighth grade, which will likely be presented to the St. Vrain Valley School Board near the end of the calendar year, Richau said.

Broomfield resident Lanae Davis said she was excited to hear about the expansion to include middle school, or upper school, as Aspen Ridge calls it.

Davis's daughter is in second grade at Aspen Ridge and a son who will be entering kindergarten in a couple of years, so expanding the grades will allow her to keep her kids under the same roof for a few more years.

Richau said the school is hoping to begin offering sixth grade in the fall of 2015 with seventh and eighth grades in the following years, assuming the SVVSD school board approves the plans.

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Despite the growth, Aspen Ridge is expecting in the next few years, Richau said the school's mission and focus on small class sizes will remain.

"Our average class size will stay at 22 students," she said. "We're not going to have giant classrooms."

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